Why aren't more people taking up scuba diving?

[redacted]

Hi folks. Just thought I'd comment on this. My partner got a two for one offer on a try dive session from a booze company. It was something we had always wanted to try so we went for it and now we are hooked. Our lds offered the training and never tried to sell us anything just lots of encouragement to just do it. When it came to buying our kit they even sourced some quality second hand gear for us. If we had not bought our own we could have rented everything we needed for £40 a time so we never felt pressured into making a purchase. We now have everything we need to dive including dry suits and tanks all serviced and have only spent about £1800 and that included ow aow wreck and dry suit cert. For both of us. Not crappy worn out gear but fairly new great condition top quality stuff. How cheap is that? You don't have to spend a fortune to dive at all. Just do it.

Unfortunately, the shop you describe is not at all typical.

 

[soggybadger]

Well the shop I described is very successful and is certifying new young ( under 25's) divers every weekend so maybe other operations should take notice.

 

[daniel1948]

I'll offer my experience as one data point, as briefly as I can:

I've always liked the water. I swam and snorkeled as a kid. My step-father was a scuba diver when Sea Hunt was originally being aired. I'd have been in my middle teens. Too much of a wimp to be willing to remove my mask under water, he would not let me dive. I swam and I snorkeled. Fast-forward to maybe 8 years ago (?) I decided to give it a try and found that, though creepy, I could take my mask off, and I got certified. I spent a lot of money on gear because I didn't want to trust my life to rented gear. A few years later I got certified to freedive. I've been a vacation diver. One or two dive trips a year, most recently about a year ago, always to warm, clear water.

Now, at age 67, with a couple of hundred dives logged, I'm finding it less appealing. I love the alien underwater world. I love seeing the corals and the pretty fishes and the big turtles and (on those rare, fortunate occasions) the sharks. I love floating down there and being able to breathe under water. But I'm faced with the dilemma that I either lug a tremendous amount of weight in my luggage, with my bad back, or I trust my life to rental gear. On my last dive trip a woman had a very close call which got me to wondering if I'd have had the presence of mind to react properly.

Since that trip a year ago, and for the coming year, other activities have displaced scuba diving: Hiking (which I always liked more than diving) and kayaking, and freediving. I have not decided to quit diving. But I have not made plans to dive again. It starts to feel more dangerous than I'm comfortable with, and the nearly-inevitable back pain from lifting heavy luggage, together might (not certain, but might) lead me to quit diving. I've never been a risk taker, and while I'm comfortable in the water, I've never been 100% comfortable when relying on scuba gear. I feel a lot safer freediving. Or kayaking. Or hiking in the mountains where the air is abundant and clean and smells of all the green plants and flowers. I also prefer activities that make me huff and puff (paddling as hard as I can, or those long, steep uphill mountain trails) than one where I'm as relaxed as I can be and conserving my breath.

So I may end up being one of those people who took up diving, took a dive trip once or twice a year for close to a decade, and then dropped out in favor of safer, simpler, more cardio-intense activities.

 

[KevinNM]

For a bad back, have you considered sidemount? I saw a young woman with a nasty scar from back surgery diving a single tank sidemount in Hawaii last year. She said it was the only way she could continue to dive.

If you are diving Scapa Flow on vacation you will have to haul around a tremendous amount of gear, but do you really need that for typical warm water? I just got back from a trip with 90 pounds of scuba gear, but one 45 pound bag was my dry suit and undergarments, and the other 45 pound bag included a SS back plate, heavy jet fins and multiple regulators.

The critical equipment you really should have is mask, computer and reg. Fins would be good and a BCD would be nice if it fits in your bag, but rentals are usually Ok. Though if you did sidemount you'd need your own BCD, but they don't look very heavy. An aluminum or plastic BP/w isn't very heavy if you stuck with backmount and wanted to haul it around.

 

[daniel1948]

The issue with my back is not in the water. In the water it's fine. It's carrying those heavy bags during travel. On my last trip I just brought my regulator and mask and fins, and I rented the wet suit and BC. But even just the reg and fins are heavy. And I was much less comfortable in the rented BC because I'm familiar with my own. To really be comfortable, I want my own BC that I know, and my own wet suit that fits me properly.

Still, if I really wanted to dive badly enough I'd deal with the weight. Lack of confidence in my own ability to deal with an emergency is another part of it. And since I live and travel alone, I'm always diving with an insta-buddy. Most of those have been fine, but not all. It's the combination of the hassle of all that gear, the uncertainty about buddies, my realistic view of my own capabilities, the inherent risk, my susceptibility to seasickness which I didn't mention in my last post, and the fact that there are other activities competing for my time. For all these reasons I find myself moving away from scuba, though I still freedive.

Again, I'm just one data point, but I imagine there are others like me who find scuba diving a lot of fun, but much more of a hassle, and perhaps more of a safety risk, than other outdoor activities. Next month, for example, I considered the Caribbean for a dive trip, but decided instead on a hiking trip in Arizona. One flight instead of three, with less luggage, fresh air rather than canned air, and lots of cardio exercise. Both in spectacular natural environments.

 

[KevinNM]

The young ladies issue was carrying the gear from her spot on the bench to the ladder, and then getting out of the water at the end of the dive. But people change, so I can't tell someone they have to dive if they want to do something else with their limited time and money.

 

[soggybadger]

The issue with my back is not in the water. In the water it's fine. It's carrying those heavy bags during travel. On my last trip I just brought my regulator and mask and fins, and I rented the wet suit and BC. But even just the reg and fins are heavy. And I was much less comfortable in the rented BC because I'm familiar with my own. To really be comfortable, I want my own BC that I know, and my own wet suit that fits me properly.

Still, if I really wanted to dive badly enough I'd deal with the weight. Lack of confidence in my own ability to deal with an emergency is another part of it. And since I live and travel alone, I'm always diving with an insta-buddy. Most of those have been fine, but not all. It's the combination of the hassle of all that gear, the uncertainty about buddies, my realistic view of my own capabilities, the inherent risk, my susceptibility to seasickness which I didn't mention in my last post, and the fact that there are other activities competing for my time. For all these reasons I find myself moving away from scuba, though I still freedive.

Again, I'm just one data point, but I imagine there are others like me who find scuba diving a lot of fun, but much more of a hassle, and perhaps more of a safety risk, than other outdoor activities. Next month, for example, I considered the Caribbean for a dive trip, but decided instead on a hiking trip in Arizona. One flight instead of three, with less luggage, fresh air rather than canned air, and lots of cardio exercise. Both in spectacular natural environments.

Have you considered a wheeled suitcase or a trolley to carry your gear?

 

[daniel1948]

All my luggage has wheels. I still have to heft it into and out of my car, and onto the scale at the airport, and off the luggage conveyor, etc., and wrestle it around here and there. Again, if I wanted to dive badly enough, this would not stop me. But it's just one more difficulty related to the need for all that gear. For hiking all I need are my boots and my poles, and for freediving all I need are my mask and fins, and for paddling I don't need anything at all since the outfitter provides the boat and paddle.

Scuba diving is more work and more hassle, and more dependent on critical equipment for my survival, than any of the other activities I enjoy. This makes a difference when I am deciding what to do on my next vacation.

I'm not arguing against scuba. I'm raising some of the reasons why some people find other activities more appealing. The thread title is "Why aren't more people taking up scuba diving?" These are some of the reasons. Heavy, bulky, expensive gear whose proper operation is critical for life. And the level of skill needed to be able to respond adequately to a failure. In retrospect, I'm less confident of my own skills than I once was. The more experience I have, the less confidence I have.

 

[soggybadger]

All my luggage has wheels. I still have to heft it into and out of my car, and onto the scale at the airport, and off the luggage conveyor, etc., and wrestle it around here and there. Again, if I wanted to dive badly enough, this would not stop me. But it's just one more difficulty related to the need for all that gear. For hiking all I need are my boots and my poles, and for freediving all I need are my mask and fins, and for paddling I don't need anything at all since the outfitter provides the boat and paddle.

Scuba diving is more work and more hassle, and more dependent on critical equipment for my survival, than any of the other activities I enjoy. This makes a difference when I am deciding what to do on my next vacation.

I'm not arguing against scuba. I'm raising some of the reasons why some people find other activities more appealing. The thread title is "Why aren't more people taking up scuba diving?" These are some of the reasons. Heavy, bulky, expensive gear whose proper operation is critical for life. And the level of skill needed to be able to respond adequately to a failure. In retrospect, I'm less confident of my own skills than I once was. The more experience I have, the less confidence I have.

Get a bult

All my luggage has wheels. I still have to heft it into and out of my car, and onto the scale at the airport, and off the luggage conveyor, etc., and wrestle it around here and there. Again, if I wanted to dive badly enough, this would not stop me. But it's just one more difficulty related to the need for all that gear. For hiking all I need are my boots and my poles, and for freediving all I need are my mask and fins, and for paddling I don't need anything at all since the outfitter provides the boat and paddle.

Scuba diving is more work and more hassle, and more dependent on critical equipment for my survival, than any of the other activities I enjoy. This makes a difference when I am deciding what to do on my next vacation.

I'm not arguing against scuba. I'm raising some of the reasons why some people find other activities more appealing. The thread title is "Why aren't more people taking up scuba diving?" These are some of the reasons. Heavy, bulky, expensive gear whose proper operation is critical for life. And the level of skill needed to be able to respond adequately to a failure. In retrospect, I'm less confident of my own skills than I once was. The more experience I have, the less confidence I have.

Fair play fella sounds like you have plenty of other interests to occupy your self with

 

[soggybadger]

All my luggage has wheels. I still have to heft it into and out of my car, and onto the scale at the airport, and off the luggage conveyor, etc., and wrestle it around here and there. Again, if I wanted to dive badly enough, this would not stop me. But it's just one more difficulty related to the need for all that gear. For hiking all I need are my boots and my poles, and for freediving all I need are my mask and fins, and for paddling I don't need anything at all since the outfitter provides the boat and paddle.

Scuba diving is more work and more hassle, and more dependent on critical equipment for my survival, than any of the other activities I enjoy. This makes a difference when I am deciding what to do on my next vacation.

I'm not arguing against scuba. I'm raising some of the reasons why some people find other activities more appealing. The thread title is "Why aren't more people taking up scuba diving?" These are some of the reasons. Heavy, bulky, expensive gear whose proper operation is critical for life. And the level of skill needed to be able to respond adequately to a failure. In retrospect, I'm less confident of my own skills than I once was. The more experience I have, the less confidence I have.

Yep I saw the title too. Pretty sure it said not taking up as opposed to stopping. Just saying